Roarkshop here. I come bearing chapters and NEWS!
I couldn't stand making you guys wait all the way until Monday, so I got this done as soon as possible. Sorry for the weird posting time.
NEWS: I am now posting all the chapters on my Deviant Art page. You can find me just by searching for Roarkshop or you can go to Roarkshop(dot)Deviantart(dot)com
More Shameless Self Promotion: I have made a Mass Effect music video, movie, thing. This is something I've wanted to start doing for a long time. I just recently got Adobe Premier Pro and have started to learn how to use it. So with Fraps I captured all my recent gameplay and made a tribute video to the sexy men of Mass Effect. This is hopefully the first of many cuz it was a lot of fun and I worked really hard on it. I had never done anything like this or even attempted it so hopefully I can continue. It was a nice break to refresh my writing obsession. I'm open to suggestions for new songs to do, couplings, and, as always, your feedback and comments are always welcome and GREATLY appreciated.
If you're interested the video can be found just by searching YouTube for: Sexy Mass Effect Men - A tribute
The one done by Roarkshop is, you guessed it, ME!
I hope you all had a wonderful week! And I wish you all the happiest of weekends!
Shepard unloaded every doubt and fear that had been crawling around in her head, came clean about Saren's taunting, which, once said out loud made her feel like an idiot. Garrus quickly dismissed all of it, holding her hands as they sat across from each other, her on the edge of the bed, him on the edge of the couch. The relief hit her so hard she felt like her limbs were weak. Leave it to Garrus' shoulders to lift all the burden off of her own. It was like everything went back to normal in a matter of minutes. She felt like she had never left. Like there wasn't a two year rift between them. She sighed a happy breath as she moved her hands over Garrus' comforting ones. She felt pretty foolish knowing all the madness in her was this easy to get rid of. That all she had needed was him.
But that was always all she needed. She had known that. She just lacked the courage to tell him so.
She had lost herself in her thoughts for too long and hadn't noticed how long the silence had taken over their conversation. When she looked up at him he was looking at their hands, contemplating something.
"There were twelve of us," he said finally, looking up at her. "Including me."
He hung his head as he continued, like he was confessing sins to a priest. The sadness in him was profound and Shepard wish she knew what she could say to make it alright. But she said nothing, just listened as he explained everything to her; how his squad had formed, the betrayal, how he had watched his last two men die, how he had planned on dying there on that bridge.
"Are you sure it was a betrayal?" She asked. "Maybe they took Sidonis out first."
He laughed and looked at her hands in his, running thumb down her palm. "That's just like you, Shepard. Always assuming there's good in people."
"There usually is, somewhere," she said.
"Not this time," he exhaled through his nose and let his eyes fall idly to the side. "I've put out feelers with some old contacts. He booked transport off Omega just before the attack. Cleared out his private accounts and everything. He sold me out and ran."
There was a long silence as she thought about it. She was never one to condone revenge. Not anymore. Not after what she had done to the men that attacked her as a child. The memories of it still haunted her, and she spared a moment to be thankful that it still hadn't come to light. But this wasn't about her. It was about Garrus.
"How do we find him?" she asked.
He looked up at her, almost looking surprised that she wanted to know. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn't be happy about the idea of killing someone in cold blood.
"I uh..." Garrus cleared his throat. "His trail vanishes after he leaves Omega. But hopefully a lead will ping me sooner or later."
"Well you be sure to let me know. We'll find him, Garrus."
He smiled.
"Thanks, Shepard."
"Commander Shepard," the AI chirped.
"What is it now, EDI?"
"I apologize for the interruption but I felt you would think this important."
"You felt?" Shepard teased.
"Semantics," EDI said. Shepard was entertained to hear the indignation in the AI's tone. "You have received a distress beacon from the Migrant Fleet regarding Ms. Vas Neema Nar'Raya."
Shepard and Garrus looked at each other, and he smiled.
"Let's go get our quarian back," he said.
Shepard was leaning back on her hands, staring up at the Citadel's night sky. Long, thick, brilliant curls cascaded lazily down her back. Sovereign had been defeated, but there was a sadness in the air.
"You're not coming with me," she said. "Are you."
He sighed. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to say he'd never leave her side again. Because he knew. Knew that if he didn't follow her she'd be lost. But no matter how he tried that wasn't the answer that came out of him.
"It's okay, Garrus," she said.
"I told you I was going back to spectre training," he said. "I meant it."
"What about you," she asked, lilting her head to the side, her curls bouncing with the movement of her head. "What is Specter Vakarian's future?"
"I'm not sure. I guess that's the benefit to being a specter. I can do whatever I want, right?"
"And what is that?" she asked.
"What is what?"
She laid herself down on the concrete of the docking hangar, her hair fanning out under her like flames. "What is it you want, Garrus?"
"Shepard..." he rumbled. He didn't know what to say. His hand moved unconsciously, reaching to her hip, using his grip on it to turn her, pull her to him.
She looked up at him and moved her hands like she was going to touch his face.
Suddenly there was a loud 'crack' like thunder, or a gun shot. She flinched.
The ground under them shook and splintered away.
"What's happening?" she said, sitting up on her hands. He sat up and looked away from her trying to figure out what was going on just before the concrete beneath her fell away. She screamed as she fell and Garrus turned around, just barely reacting fast enough to grab her by a wrist as she fell.
"Hang on, Shepard," he said trying to pull her up. She was so heavy, no matter how he pulled she wouldn't rise. He heaved with all his might but she wouldn't budge. Her hand was slipping.
"Garrus," She said, tears filling her eyes. "Just... pull me up," she begged. A bright orange light started trailing her face leaving a singed scar behind it.
"I'm trying!" He shouted, desperately trying to hold onto her. "You have to hang on!" He didn't understand, he could throw Shepard over his shoulder if he wanted to. Why was she so heavy? Why couldn't he lift her?
A sound he hadn't heard in years echoed from the void beneath her. It was laughter, Saren's laughter.
"The girl's mine now, Vakarian," he said as he rose from the darkness of space, gripping Shepard firmly by the ankles and using her to climb.
"No," Garrus said, pulling on the Commander's wrist. "Shepard, don't let go!"
"This is the way the story goes, Vakarian." He said as he reached Shepard's shoulders, nuzzling his face against the side of hers.
"No," he roared. "I won't let you take her!"
"That choice," Saren said, moving his hand onto Shepard's free hand, manipulating it to grip her pistol at her side. "Is no longer yours to make."
Garrus flailed, trying to pull her up to him. His shoulder was burning. His talons pierced the concrete as he tried to stay up.
"You have failed her again," Saren taunted, lifting Shepard's hand and forcing her pistol to the side of her head. Tears were running down her face as she looked up at him. Frightened. Pleading him. Asking him why he wasn't stopping this. Why he wasn't helping her.
"Jane," he begged. "Fight it. Please, don't... don't do this."
"Garrus, I..." the tears choked in her throat. "I don't want to become like him."
"You wont," he promised.
"You already are," Saren purred, moving his face to nuzzle her neck. He bared his teeth and slowly traced them along the length of her throat, leaving bright orange cybernetic scars in their wake. She winced.
"Stop it! You're hurting her!"
"You hurt her first," he said, licking her blood from his teeth. "I merely picked up where you left off." He sank his teeth deep into the curve of her neck, marking her as his own. Shepard screamed with the pain, her chest heaved, her blood pooled, leaking from the wound down her vest.
"NO" Garrus roared. Suddenly fueled by his rage, he pulled on her wrist with all his might and she slowly started rising to him. The deep crimson dripped from Saren's maw as he looked up at Garrus with a wicked sneer.
"You're mine, now, Shepard," he growled.
"No, Jane don't listen to him," he huffed, pulling her.
"There is only one escape for you."
"I'm sorry, Garrus," she said, closing her eyes, tears still staining her cheeks. Her hand quivering as she gripped the pistol in her hand.
"Jane, no!"
BLAM
He sat up, sweat pouring down him, a hand on his head, panting there on Shepard's couch. They had both fallen asleep there as they talked the night away on the way to Haestrom. He turned and put his head in his hands for long moments, the images, the sounds of Saren's laughter, they were daunting.
Looking to his right, there she was, curled into a ball in the corner of the couch across from him. The sight made him laugh softly. Even from the distance he was he could hear her soft, steady breathing. Regardless that he was looking at her, and he knew she was alright, he couldn't calm the beating of his heart, couldn't quell the panic.
Lifting her from the couch as gently as he could, he layed her down in her bed, and stood there for long minutes just looking at her. Finally, he put a finger on her chin and slowly turned her face toward him, exposing the other side of her throat. It made him feel silly that he had to check, but the sight of the untouched, pearly skin on her throat helped ease the panic away.
He settled back onto the couch and leaned his head back, taking slow steady breaths, commanding his heart to stop pounding so hard. After Shepard died, he became so hardened and emotionless he had forgotten what it felt like to be afraid. And how to stop it. He laughed to himself as he realized how shaken he was by it.
Shepard tossed in her sleep, and his eyes fell on her again. He smiled. Leave it to her to take everything he had been trying to make himself, and bring it to a screeching halt, just making him him again. He settled on the couch again, with his feet up on the edge of her bed so he would be there if she woke up in the middle of the night. He was sure that she wouldn't have another episode like down in the cargo bay now that she had dealt with her sadness, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Not with Shepard. Not anymore.
Her couch was where he awoke the next morning. She gently shook his shoulder to bring him out of slumber.
"Hmmm?" He blinked himself awake, focusing on her face next to him.
"Good morning, Sunshine," she sang.
Her face was bright and playful. The scar on her face had completely disappeared as far as he could tell. The darkness under her eyes had vanished.
"Good morning," he purred sleepily.
"Get something to eat, we're coming up on Haestrom."
"Did you eat already?" is what he said.
How are you feeling, is what he meant.
"Yeah, I'm going to shower. So I can't have some pervert hanging out on my couch."
Human. Like my old self.
"Riiiiight," he said with a stretch as he stood, admiring the brightness in her face. "I've been meaning to give myself nightmares. Naked humans are just what I had in mind."
I'm always here if you need me.
She laughed and hit him in the chest as he passed her.
The silent conversation didn't need to be said. Just the fact that they settled into their old rythem said it enough, for both of them. They looked at each other for a long moment, her bright confident face, his smooth sideways smirk.
Just like old times.
"Shepard, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins," Edi chimed. "There is considerable geth activity and an environmental hazard. Solar output has overwhelmed Haelstroms protective magnetisphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will damage your shields."
"Roger that, EDI," Shepard said.
"Great. We can fight an army of geth shield-less. This will fucking work out perfectly," Jack cursed.
"Hey. Debby Downer. You want to kill some shit or go wait in the ship?"
"Whatever."
Shepard looked at Garrus and he shrugged.
They made their way from cover to cover but Shepard noticed that something was off with Garrus. His shots certainly weren't missing by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn't take a single geths head off.
"I don't think I've ever seen you have an off day, Garrus," she teased from behind her spot in cover.
"Yeah," he said with a laugh. "I haven't actually been in a fight without my visor in years."
A pang of guild hit her in the chest as she remembered kicking, what she thought was Saren, in the face during her meltdown. Internally she could see that it was Garrus, but she hadn't recognized him, she just responded to the threat. Her face flushed and she suddenly felt rather ridiculous. She got so lost in the memory, she hadn't realized the fight was over until Garrus came out of cover to offer her a hand up.
"What, are you napping?" He taunted.
She shook it off and took his hand.
"Pshh, more like giving you and your naked face a chance to catch up."
"Hey, Lovebirds," Jack interrupted. "There's an active radio over here."
Kal'Reegar helped them figure out what was going on once they tuned into his radio channel. He was part of Tali's squad and he confirmed that she was safe, which was a relief. They quickly formulated a plan before a geth ship dropped a squad right under their noses.
Shepard was actually rather impressed with Jack as she sent geth flying three or four at a time. About a hundred geth and a stone blockade later, they made it to the research center.
"You know when you stop talking, you're actually pretty useful, Jack."
"I should say the same about you, Shepard."
Shepard laughed.
* Tali'Zorah to base camp. Come in base camp.*
"Tali?" Shepard asked, looking around.
"Over here, Shepard," Garrus said, pointing to Tali's image coming through a console.
* Hello? Is anyone there? *
Shepard flicked a switch.
"Tali, it's Shepard."
* Shepard? *
"I'm sorry, but, everyone here is dead. Any survivors must have fallen back."
* Damn it, * she said with a pause. * What are you doing here Shepard? We're in the middle of geth space. *
"Migrant fleet told us you might need a hand. I was in the neighborhood."
* Thanks, Shepard. It means a lot to hear your voice. *
They came up with a plan together. Shepard promised to reach her in time and save as many as she could along the way. Garrus smiled. Shepard was obviously happy to see Tali again, and that made him happy in turn.
Once they headed out of the transmission room, Jack messed up some flying drones before they made it across the field. They kept behind big pieces of concrete to protect themselves from the harmful sunlight and still managed to destroy just about every mechanical thing in their path. They made it to their next cover, a closed off room with a control panel.
"Well, no harm seeing what we're up against," Shepard said, as she typed something in to raise the shutters around the room.
Her eyes scanned the field below them and focused on movement at the other end. By the time the familiar flash-light face emerged from the concrete, they had all recognized it.
"Shit, Colossus," Jack shouted.
"Get down!" Shepard yelled as the three of them dove into cover just in time to avoid getting blasted by the pulse the colossus shot at them.
Garrus groaned as he stood. "Agh, definitely like old times."
Shepard laughed. "We should totally Plan B this thing."
Kal'Reegar was in pretty bad shape when they found him. Shepard insisted that he stay down, telling him that Tali didn't need to lose any more ally's. He fought her on it initially, but Shepard slammed him into the wall and told him he needed to watch their rear if they were going to take down the colossus. He reluctantly agreed.
Garrus watched Shepard as much as he could. That old finesse, the spunk, the flair. It was back in full force, like she had never left. She laughed, cheered, made witty comments about his shots, and would shout rediculous curses that he was sure she had to have made up. Spirits, it was good to have her back.
He still felt like an ass for not helping her sooner, especially now that he knew how easy it would have been. But the sight of her laughing as she kicked the scraps of the colossus put him at ease.
"That never get's old," she said, hefting her missile launcher over her shoulder.
"You're okay, Shepard," Jack said, laughing.
"You certainly are," Garrus confirmed. Shepard smiled when Jack had said it, but Garrus had meant something completely different by it. And, judging by the way she was smiling at him, she knew it.
"Jane," Tali said, going to her once they made their way into the barricaded room.
"Hey, Tali," Shepard said, wrapping the quarian in her arms.
"That's twice now you've come to save me when I was in trouble."
"Don't feel bad, Tali. I had to pull Garrus' ass out of the fire too," Shepard said, pointing over her shoulder at the turian.
"It's good to see you, Garrus. I should have figured once you found out Shepard was alive you'd be right behind her. Keelah, what happened to your face?"
"My visor broke," he said pointing to the empty spot on his head.
"Not that, you bosh-tet. The giant bandage."
"Oh, right," he laughed, pointing to the other side of his face. "Gun ship missile."
"Ah," she said. She turned around to finish uploading something with a sigh.
"You okay?" Shepard asked.
"This whole mission has been a disaster," she said, putting her helmet in her hands.
"A lot of quarians lost their lives here," Shepard said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Was it worth it?"
"I don't know Shepard, it wasn't my call. The Admiralty board thought the data was important enough to risk all our lives, so I have to believe they know what is best."
"You can debrief me on the details later, think the fleet will let me steal you for another suicidal mission to save the universe?"
"Just let me send the data from a secure channel, then I can leave with you. And if the admirals have a problem with that, they can go to hell. I just watched my whole team die."
Garrus' heart went out to her, he knew just how she felt. He was trying to think of something comforting to say when Kal'Reegar came in.
"Maybe not the whole rest of your team, ma'am."
"Reegar, you made it," Tali said, putting her hands on her chest.
"Your old captain's as good as you said. Damn colossus never stood a chance."
Shepard definitely noticed that some kind of moment was going on between the two.
"Do you need a ride back to the fleet, Reegar? We can take you back on the Normandy."
"They didn't damage our ship any, if we get out of here before reinforcements arrive we should be fine."
"I uh," Tali folded her hands over each other nervously. "I won't be going with you. I'm joining Commander Shepard again."
There was a silence. Shepard thought that Kal'Reegar would look hurt under his mask if she could see it, but he just played it off, nursing his wound.
"I'll pass the data on to the admiralty board and tell them what happened. She's all yours now Shepard," he said, turning to her. There was a severity in his tone. "Keep her safe."
"I always do," she said with a nod.
He looked Tali over one more time, before turning to leave.
The day had passed rather quickly, so as they loaded back onto the Normandy, everyone excused themselves to recuperate. Tali went to situate her quarters, Garrus left to shower and eat, Jack went to do whatever it is Jack does, and Shepard returned to her quarters and had another, fantastic, dreamless night of sleep.